This application claims the benefit of priority under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/270,789 filed on Jul. 14, 2009, entitled Canna Plant Named ‘ORANGE CHOCOLATE’.
This application is co-pending with the application of same filing date for the inventor'variety of Canna plant named ‘CHOCOLATE SUNRISE’ (U.S. Plant patent application Ser. No. 12/803,914).
The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Canna, also known as Canna Lily or Indian Shot, which is grown as an ornamental annual or perennial, according to climate zone, for use in planted containers and in the garden and landscape. The new cultivar is known botanically as Canna×generalis, and will be referred to hereinafter by the cultivar name ‘ORANGE CHOCOLATE’.
The inventor has carried out a Canna breeding program at the inventor's nursery in Kibbutz Saad, Israel since 2005. The breeding program is aimed at producing new varieties of Canna with useful commercial characteristics: primarily new varieties which exhibit a dwarf habit with colorful foliage and bearing well-presented flowers. ‘ORANGE CHOCOLATE’ arose and was selected by the inventor in 2006 as an open pollinated seedling whose male parent is unknown and whose female parent is Canna ‘Wine and Roses’ (unpatented). The inventor used this same parentage to develop the inventor's co-pending variety ‘CHOCOLATE SUNRISE’. Both co-pending varieties exhibit almost identical habit and foliage color. However, the flowers of ‘ORANGE CHOCOLATE’ are bright orange in color, whereas the flowers of ‘CHOCOLATE SUNRISE’ are deep yellow in color.
‘ORANGE CHOCOLATE’ was first asexually reproduced by the inventor in Kibbutz Saad, Israel in 2006. Asexual propagation was accomplished by division of the rhizome. Since that time, under careful observation, the distinguishing characteristics of ‘ORANGE CHOCOLATE’ have been determined stable and uniform, and to reproduce true to type in successive generations of asexual propagation.
The variety of Canna which is considered by the inventor to most closely resemble ‘ORANGE CHOCOLATE’ is the parent plant, Canna ‘Wine and Roses’. ‘Wine and Roses’ and ‘ORANGE CHOCOLATE’ both exhibit dark olive green to purple brown colored foliage. However, the flowers of ‘Wine and Roses’ are rose pink in color whereas the flowers of ‘ORANGE CHOCOLATE’ are bright orange in color.